Devasahayam Pillai

Servant of God Devasahayam Pillai
Devasahayam Pillai, as depicted on the front cover of a booklet sold at Kattadimalai (the site of his execution).
Born	April 23, 1712(1712-04-23) Nattalam, Kanyakumari District, India
Died	January 14, 1752(1752-01-14) (aged 39) Aralvaimozhy
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	A palace employee or an army chief[citation needed]
Spouse	Gnanapoo
Website
Official Website

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Devasahayam Pillai was an 18th century convert from Hinduism to Christianity in the southern part of India.He may have been an official in the court of the Travancore king, Maharaja Marthanda Varma,^[1] during which time he came under the influence of the former Dutch naval commander, Captain Eustachius De Lannoy.

He is believed by Roman Catholics to have been martyred.^[1] In 2004, the Tamil Nadu branch of the Catholic Bishops' Council in India recommended Devasahayam Pillai for the process of beatification to the Vatican.^[2] This led to arguments as some Hindus believe that there is no evidence of religious persecution in Travancore during that period, and that Pillai was executed for sedition.^[3]

Account of his life as given by Roman Catholic devotees

Early life

Devasahayam Pillai (named Neelakanta Pillai at birth)^[1] was born into an affluent Nair-caste family at Nattalam in the present-day Kanyakumari District, on 23 April 1712.^[4] His father Vasudevan Namboodiri, hailed from Kayamkulam, in present-day Kerala state, and was working as a priest at Sri Adi Kesava Perumal temple in Thiruvattar in present-day Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. His mother Devaki Amma was hailing from Thiruvattar in Kanyakumari district. In the Nair matriarchal traditions of the day, Devasahayam Pillai was raised-up by his maternal uncle, and was inculcated with Hindu beliefs and traditions early on.

Devasahayam’s family had much influence in the royal palace of Maharaja Marthanda Varma, king of Travancore, and Devasahayam went into the service of the royal palace as a young man.^[5]:12 His capabilities and enthusiasm did not go unnoticed in the palace, as he was soon put in charge of state affairs as an official under Ramayyan Dalawa, the Dewan of Travancore.^[6]:55-56

Conversion to Christianity

In 1741, Captain Eustachius De Lannoy, a Dutch naval commander, was sent on command of a Dutch naval expedition by the Dutch East India Company to capture Colachel, a port under the control of Travancore, and establish a trading post there. In the battle (Battle of Colachel) that followed between the Travancore forces and De Lannoy’s men, the Dutchmen were vanquished. Many Dutchmen, including De Lannoy and his assistant Donadi, were taken as prisoners, while the rest either ran away or were killed.

De Lannoy and the Dutchmen were later pardoned by the king, on condition that they serve in the Travancore army. De Lannoy later earned the trust of the king and went on to become the commander of the Travancore armed forces, winning many battles and annexing various adjacent territories to Travancore.

It was during their influential roles under the King of Travancore that Devasahayam Pillai and De Lannoy became well acquainted. De Lannoy’s Christian faith interested Devasahayam and De Lannoy enlightened him on the faith, leading to his conversion in 1745.^[1]

Baptism

On Devasahayam’s acceptance of the Christian faith, he was baptized at the church at Vadakkankulam village (in the present Tirunelveli District of Tamilnadu), where the Jesuits had a mission under Rev. Fr.R.Battari Italus S.J.^[7]:281 Neelakanda Pillai, his name at birth, was then changed into Devasahayam (means God's help in Tamil/Malayalam for Lazarus) after receiving baptism. Pillai was married^[1] by this time to Bargavi Ammal of Travancore. She was also persuaded and converted to Christianity by her husband. His wife was given the baptismal name of Gnanapoo Ammaal (means Theresa in Tamil/Malayalam). Fearing reprisal in Travancore against her religious conversion, she chose to be a migrated-resident of this village. Some of Devasahayam Pillai's immediate family members also received baptism later after being converted to Christianity.^[6]:68-69

Orders based on accusations and charges

Roman Catholic sources allege that the Brahmin chief priest of the kingdom and members of the royal household and the Nair community brought false charges on Devasahayam to the Dewan, Ramayyan Dalawa,^[7]:282 and that Devasahayam was divested of his portfolio in the administration and was later accused of treason and of divulging state secrets to rivals and Europeans. He was initially ordered to be taken on a buffalo to Kuzhumaikkad, where he would be executed and finished-off.^{[5]:41-42 [8]} But the original Royal order was altered later several times to finally to be taken on a buffalo back to Aralvaimozhy border for a meaningful punishment of banishment after carrying out a series of tortures by ten different karyakkars on the advice of ministers.^[5]:42-65

Other traditions and beliefs

Devasahayam was marched all the way to Aralvaimozhy by soldiers, over the period of a few days. As was customary in those days for very cruel criminals, his body was painted with red and black spots, and he was intentionally marched through populated areas, sitting backward on top of a water buffalo^{[7]:283 [9]} (the mythical vehicle or vahana of Yama, the lord of death in Hinduism) throughout South Travancore from Padmanabhapuram palace. On the way en-route, he was daily beaten with eighty stripes, pepper rubbed in his wounds and nostrils, exposed to the sun, and given only stagnant water to drink.^[9]

While halting at Puliyoorkurichi, not far away from the Padmanabhapuram Palace of the Travancore king, it is believed by Christians that God quenched his thirst by letting water gush through a small hole on a rock, the very place where he knelt to pray. The water hole is still to be found in the compound of a church at Puliyoorkurichi, about 15 km from Nagercoil.^{[7]:285 [5]:54}

It is also believed that the leaves of a neem (Margosa) tree in the village of Peruvilai, to which he had been tied while being marched to Aralvaimozhy, cured illnesses of sick people in the village and around. Many more miracles are attributed to Devasahayam Pillai.^[7]:286

Death

In 1752, the original order of the King and his Dewan was to deport him from Travancore, into the Pandya country, at Aralvaimozhy. He was let off in the forested hills near Aralvaimozhy. There, he is believed to have begun deep meditations, and the people from the adjacent villages began visiting the holy man. Christian sources allege that at this time, high caste Hindus plotted to do away with Devasahayam.^[6]:134

Some people believe that the soldiers went up the forested hills and tried to shoot Devasahayam, but were unable to fire; after which he took the gun in his hands, blessed it and gave it back to the soldiers to shoot him to death, if they wished to. The soldiers took the gun back and fired at him five times. His body was then carelessly thrown out near the foothills at Kattadimalai.^{[7]:285 [10]}

It was at Kattadimali in Kanyakumari district that Devasahayam Pillai died on 14 January 1752.^[1] His mortal remains were interred near the altar inside St. Xavier's church, Kottar, which is a Cathedral now in Nagercoil.^[7]:285

Canonization efforts

According to the report submitted by the then Bishop of Cochin (under whom Kanyakumari church was then functioning) in 1756 CE, the Christian martyrdom of Devasahayam Pillai was promptly intimated to Vatican. Prominent witnesses to his saintliness and martyrdom include Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar.^[11]

In 1780, Kariattil Ouseph Malpan submitted a petition to the Vatican for canonization of Devasahayam Pillai.^[12]

The church historian C. M. Agur concluded in 1903 that although apostasy was never considered illegal in Travancore, it was not viewed indifferently, particularly in the case of the King's palace servants, and this led to the martyrdom of Devasahayam Pillai.^[7]:285

In 1984, a group of laymen once again took the initiative to seek the beatification of Devasahayam.^[13] This is unusual for a layman,^[1] but he is regarded as one who was totally devoted to Christ.^[2] At the beginning of the 21st century, many Christian devotees started offering prayers at his tomb.^[2]

After a series of initiatives and much deliberation, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI), Tamil Nadu council, later in 2004, duly recommended his beatification, following scrutiny of available historical evidence, in consultation with others.^[2] Bishop Chrysostom said that the CBCI did not intend any controversy whatsoever in moving this forward.^[2]

However, Professor A. Sreedhara Menon, a noted historian and writer on Travancore, said that no cases of persecution in the name of religious conversion were recorded in the history of the kingdom.^[3] M. G. S. Narayanan, former chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research, said there was no record of an army chief by this name in Kerala's history.^[3] P. Parameswaran, president of the Hindu spiritual organisation Vivekananda Kendra, accused the CBCI of an attempt to hurt Hindu sentiments. He insisted that Devasahayam was recorded in the Travancore state manual as a palace employee, not an army chief; that he was executed because he had tampered with palace records and passed them to De Lannoy; and he was executed only after confirmation of the sedition.^[3]

Places of interest

Devasahyam Pillai is believed to be buried in the Cathedral of St. Francis Xavier at Kottar in Nagercoil.^[1]

Devasahyam Pillai’s clothes and other belongings are kept in a church in the small town of Vadakkankulam, in Tirunelveli District of Tamilnadu State, India. They are exposed at the church on 15 August every year, the feast of the Assumption of Mary. His wife was buried in the cemetery there.

Puliyoorkurichi, location of the water fountain believed to have quenched Devasahayam’s thirst, is on the Nagercoil - Trivandrum highway.

Aralvaimozhy, where Devasahayam was killed, is also on the Nagercoil - Tirunelveli highway. At that spot on the hillock (called Kaattadimalai), devotees believe that rocks fell and were broken at that moment. One rock at the place makes bell-like sounds when knocked with a stone.

See also

Catholicism portal

• Servant of God
• List of Servants of God

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} CBCI report, The Hindu, 10 January 2004. Retrieved 27 Sept 2009.
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} "CBCI report". NewIndPress.com. 13 January 2004. Archived from the original on 30 August 2004. http://web.archive.org/web/20040830204625/http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IER20040112120811&Title=Kerala&Topic=0. Retrieved 27 Sept 2009. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Balram Mishra, "Deafening silence?" Daily Pioneer, 20 January 2003. Cited at HinduWisdom.com. Retrieved 27 Sept 2009.
4. ^ Amalagiri Anthonymuthu, "Vedasatchi Devasahayam Pillai Virivaana Varalaaru"(Tamil), Nanjil Book Stall, Nagercoil,1988, 3rd Edn.,2006, Page:15.
5. ^ ^{a b c d} Pushpa Raj P, "Devasahayam Pillai: The Martyr", Nanjil Book Stall, Nagercoil, 1988, 2nd Edn., 2005
6. ^ ^{a b c} Rosario Narchison J, "Martyr Devasahayam: A Documented History", Bishop's House, Nagercoil, 2002.
7. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Agur, C. M., Church History of Travancore, Madras, 1903, Reprint: Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 1990, Part II, Chapter V. ISBN 81-206-0594-2
8. ^ Stephen, A.P., "Retham Chintha Chintha" (Tamil), Kottar Diocese, Nagercoil, 1975, page 29.
9. ^ ^{a b} Samuel Mateer, Native Life in Travancore, London, 1883. ISBN 81-206-0514-4. Page 291.
10. ^ Thangasami M.S.J., "Vanjinaattu Vedasaatchi Devasahayam Pillai Varalaaru" (Tamil), Nanjil Pathippaham, Nagercoil, 1989, page 83.
11. ^ Gover Nethor Parammakkal Thoma Kathanar, "Vathamana Pusthakam" (Malayalam), First Travelogue in an Indian language & Malankara Catholic records, edited by Most Rev. Fr. Thomas Muthedan, published by Janatha Book Stall, Thevara, Ernakulam, 1778–87.
12. ^ Thangasami M.S.J., "Vanjinaattu Vedasaatchi Devasahayam Pillai Varalaaru"(Tamil), Nanjil Pathippaham, Nagercoil, 1989, pp 94-96.
13. ^ Process of beatification on devotees' website

External links

• Bibliography at Catholic site, http://www.MartyrDevasagayam.org
• Devasahayam (Lazar) Pillai

Persondata
Name	Pillai, Devasahayam
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	23 April 1712
Place of birth	Nattalam, Kanyakumari District, India
Date of death	14 January 1752
Place of death	Aralvaimozhy